Animal is a Ram

Thought the ref handled that one well.

Definitely a foul, definitely only a yellow given there were 2 defenders on the cover and not a clear goalscoring opportunity.

19 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

They'll have got nothing for this.  Their gobshite of a chairman was pulling in the purse strings at the start of the season and trying to sell. Very odd

Rumoured figure of £20-25m. Apparently cost twice that.

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/24184878.wycombe-save-reading-training-ground-purchase/

Quote

It is now hoped that the sale will help save the long-term future of the Royals, who have been hit with multiple points deductions and fines since the start of the season. 

Statement expected today.

I don't care who the parties involved are, this doesn't sit well with me at all. I don't think it does anything but make Reading a harder sell.

Gonna move this to the Football Forum.

On 12/03/2024 at 13:33, Crewton said:

So accepting that CBT is yet to make an impact, how many more on this list do you believe are struggling to make an impact?

Just Fornah, Embleton and TJJ in my view. Waggy and Wash are coming back from injuries sustained in the line of work but have generally made an impact when fit and selected, Vickers has done Ok as back up keeper, but every one of the others is proving their value now IMO.

What kind of success rate were you expecting when none of them cost a transfer fee?

Even then, Fornah and TJJ have made some significant contributions - TJJ with the only goal in the win away at Port Vale, and Fornah with the wonderful assist for NML at home to Bristol Rovers?

I'd agree with Embleton, though, but he barely got his feet under the table before a season-ending injury.

Huge shame, our only true RB. Still with the form we're having with a back 3/5, it's come at an okay time.

11 hours ago, MaltRam said:

11 points from our last 8 games will give us our biggest ever points return.

I think we can cut him all the slack in the world and get on the Warne bus until May at least.

and we only need one more away win from the four we have left to beat our record for away wins in a season.

I know ifs, buts and maybes - but it does make those two defeats all the more galling, especially when we'd taken the lead in both. Even if they were both draws, we'd have matched Portsmouth and given ourselves breathing room on the rest.

Still, wouldn't be Derby if we did it the easy way...

Don't change a winning team. If there was ever a time for some consistency, this was it.

6 minutes ago, Crewton said:

If I had a pound for every time a poster had complained about our players being "too soft" or "naive" or where a poster has complained that we aren't canny enough to employ the "dark arts" I'd have enough money to adequately compensate those posters who are offended when we do beat an opponent at their own game for once, and still have enough left to buy a decent centre forward 😉

I was thinking very much the same. The writing was on the wall from this ref as soon as he started booking players - and while we did benefit from some contentious decisions, it's about damn time. Especially from this referee and the Wildsmith red, and the Plymouth pen from last season.

Speaking of dark arts though, was getting mighty tired of one of the Reading players (Azeez, I think) standing really close on Cashin's throw-ins - anyone know the rules on this? 

16 hours ago, Bessie1 said:

Peterborough v Stevenage tomorrow 

A draw here would be nice. Wouldn't be opposed to a Stevenage win, either.

Tonight's interesting fixtures (aside from our own, obviously)

Carlisle vs Barnsley
Lincoln vs Cambridge (my sneaky pick for 6th)
Northampton vs Blackpool
Portsmouth vs Burton (up the Brewers)
Shrewsbury vs Exeter
Bolton vs Oxford

No Stevenage or Peterborough

Rams 2-1 Royals

NML to score first, thankyouplease.

I was reflecting on the squad the other day and concluded that the overwhelming majority of the squad has positively contributed to our successes this season.

The notable exceptions were Embleton (who looked decent then picked up a season-ending injury), and Blackett-Taylor, who has suffered from some niggly injuries and hasn't had any significant game time.

Even John-Jules scored a couple of important goals, not least the only goal for three points away at Port Vale.

Credit surely goes to PW for this. 

Unless he asked in a very strong or unpleasant way, this feels like a poor precedent to set.

Has to be the strongest team.

Reading are no mugs - we've already had one poor result against them.

5 hours ago, Old Spalding Ram said:

Anyone you know?……………..Some happy folks on here!  👍😁

 

 

Look at what it means to them all.

Not least Dwight Gayle, who's been here all of five minutes - just watching the way he celebrates Barky's goal makes me smile

7 hours ago, Ambitious said:

I don’t want to get ahead of myself or allow myself to be excited, but.. I feel like something has finally clicked.

Best performance we’ve ever had under Warne, in my opinion. We’ve fell on to a workable system, the main reason was the recruitment staff doing their job and finding a gem in Ebou Adams and very recently I think it’s not in any small part to having to change the dynamic with Gayle upfront. I believe these two signings in particular have changed our fortunes, similarly to how Nyambe did earlier in the season.

Sibley and Ward are excelling. The defence are well balanced, the cohesion between the midfield and defence is significantly better, gaps aren’t as freely available for the other team and we are now working well going forward. I think we actually look like a team now, which for the majority of the season has definitely been missing something. The last two performances, the dynamic of the team, I’m finally hopeful. 

A hundred times this - and what a time to find it.

While some would argue Warne should have found this balance a while ago, our season has been so disrupted by injuries, it's little wonder it has taken this long.

Spose away fans in the SE means more segregation, since they blocked off fewer seats in the SW than current.

We've had a smidgen over 33k in for Forest games, IIRC.

The official all seated capacity is 33597 - which we hit for England vs. Mexico in 2000. Weirdly, the EFL site lists us at just under 33k, wonder if the segregation changes have removed some? 

F* the EFL...

...'s dubious goals panel

Not quite as catchy, somehow

Check the first letter of the lines of paragraphs 4, 5 and 6. 

There's no way that's an accident and not some excellent sneaky swearing.

Yet another 2 points docked for Reading.